American markets closed down as a result, ending a dreadful quarter when the Dow Jones lost around a quarter of its value.

It had a knock-on effect on European markets on Wednesday.

Mr Wilson added: “Global stocks got off to a soggy start in April as economic damage wrought by the coronavirus was laid bare and investors felt there was not yet enough to show the virus was at or near its peak in Europe or the US.

“Donald Trump reflected the mood as he warned of weeks of pain still ahead, a stark change from his rather casual approach thus far. He also called for another two trillion dollars for infrastructure spending.”

Banks led the FTSE’s drop on Wednesday after announcing they would not return money to shareholders this year, and cancelling outstanding dividends from 2019.

HSBC was down by 9.3%, Standard Chartered by 7.1%, Lloyds by 5.2%, the Royal Bank of Scotland by 5%, and Barclays by 4.8%.